


The Fundamentals of Having a Family

by Shrimprave



Category: Beetlejuice - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Family Feels, Forgive my bad writing, I will crush any beetlebabes shippers that come near my stuff, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Misunderstandings, One Big Happy Family, Suicide, Suicide Attempt, Suicide Notes, This isn't as sad as it seems tbh, beetlebabes dni
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-12
Updated: 2020-02-12
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:29:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22682518
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shrimprave/pseuds/Shrimprave
Summary: The Maitlands ask Beetlejuice about Lydia's mental health and when he reveals that she tried to kill herself that night on the roof, they're shocked. BJ gets dragged down by the Maitlands when they go talk to Lydia. Lydia admits to talking to Beej about her mental issues and that reveals some secrets only Lydia knew about her best friend.
Relationships: Adam Maitland/Barbara Maitland, Beetlejuice & Adam Maitland, Beetlejuice & Barbara Maitland, Beetlejuice & Lydia Deetz, Beetlejuice & Lydia Deetz & Adam Maitland & Barbara Maitland
Comments: 14
Kudos: 153





	The Fundamentals of Having a Family

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry if characters are ooc. This is my first time writing anything based around Beetlejuice and I kind of wrote this as a way to get a feel for it. Please comment any feedback!

"What is with you and Lydia and the roof?"

Beetlejuice jumped, a hasty streak of white bolting through his hair like a wave and then dispersing back to it's usual green. He turned to look at the Maitlands standing close to each other, "Christ Babs, give a demon a warning before you sneak up on 'im." He had to say they were getting good at sneaking. Too good if they were scaring him. Not that they scared him or anything.

Both Adam and Barbara ignored him and walked over to take a seat beside him which, of course, confused him even more than the fact they even came up here. As a matter of fact, the mention of Lydia being up here more often was news to him. Beej thought he was the only one who came up here anymore. Other than the maintenance guy who came up last week and almost fell off the roof when Beetlejuice appeared behind him. To be fair, the demon wasn't expecting anyone to be up here with him either.

"I get it was kind of a rhetorical question, but the roof is a weird place to be." Adam said, raising his eyebrows. He didn't mean it in a rude way, but the way BJ spoke defensively made it seem like he had.

"I like the roof, thank you very much." Beetlejuice said, swinging his legs for lack of any ground to bounce his leg. "Why're you guys up here? Miss me that much?" He cracked a toothy grin.

"We came up here because we were worried-" Barbara started.

"Aww! You did miss me!"

"About Lydia," Adam interjected.

"Oh." BJ's smile fell and he turned his gaze to the street below.

Most serious topics with Lydia were a quick way to get the demon to shut up, and this time was no different. He just didn't like to be a part of these serious conversations. Being invisible to people for so long tended to wear away at your social skills. And Beej had just about no social skills. "I hope you're not coming to me for advice, b'cause I suck at advice." 

"Well not exactly," Adam replied, "Okay, look. We know you come up here for god knows what reasons. Whether it's to sulk-"

"I don't sulk," Beetlejuice huffed.

"-or just because you like it up here, but I saw Lydia come up here the other day and usually she only comes up here looking for you, but Barbara said you were in the kitchen with Delia!"

"Yeees?" BJ didn't see the point. The more they stayed here, the more confused he was getting. And it had been, like, five seconds. 

Barb rested a hand on her husband's shoulder, taking mercy on Beetlejuice's confusion. "We were wondering if she came up here for some of the same reasons you do. Or if she's talked to you about anything?"

The Maitlands watched as realization clicked in Beetlejuice's head, as he blinked rapidly a few times and then looked to them with a squint. "You're asking me if Lyds is depressed?" He asked.

"Again, not exactly," Barbara said, "We know Lydia has her...struggles. We know you can relate to them to some degree."

"We know she's depressed," Adam clarified.

Barbara nodded. "We know," she repeated, "She's moving on, which is great. That's the point, though. She's moving. She hasn't moved. Which is fine. The process will take awhile, and may not even be complete ever. The point is we just want to know if she's, I don't know…"

"Wanting to commit not alive?" Beej proposed supportively.

"You shouldn't joke about it like that." Barbara scolded. This was Beetlejuice, however, and honestly she wasn't too scandalized he would joke about suicide.

"C'mon Babs, look who you're talking to!" At the ghosts confused looks he rolled his eyes. "You know?" He mimicked wrapping a rope around his neck and pulling it up, making a sickening cracking-slash-choking noise with his mouth that sounded a little too real for comfort. Their addled expressions didn't clear up at all, instead a mild amount of concern popped up. BJ groaned and dropped his hands to the side again. He could have swore he told them about that. Dammit.

Adam opened his mouth, but before he could speak, Beej interrupted him. There was no way he was having them question that now. Maybe a couple centuries from now it would come up. "Okay, I'll get to the point, losers. Lydia's fine. At least fine enough not to want to attempt impaling herself on the birdbath again."

"What?" Both Maitlands yelped, and Beetlejuice could almost feel them tense just by being near them.

"Again?" Adam asked in a panicked voice, shooting his head toward his wife who had an equally baffled look.

"Remember when me and Lyds first met and she was up here on the roof?" He asked, genuinely not understanding their shock.

The couple hesitantly nodded even though Beetlejuice continued without any acknowledgment. 

"Yeah! She had a note and everything. Even took a few steps a little too close to the edge. You guys came up on the roof to try and help her, but I was already there. That night?"

"She was going to jump..?" Barbara asked in a quiet voice, looking down in a conflicted inner turmoil. "And we..?"

"Shit," BJ said, "you guys didn't know." He was beginning to feel like he shouldn't have indulged in this conversation. "Fuck."

"You stopped her?" Adam asked, placing his hand over the one Barb put on his shoulder and looking up to Beetlejuice who had since looked away from the two and was looking increasingly awkward.

"Well, yeah." Beej shrugged and tapped his fingers on the roof tiles, thinking more and more about disappearing for a little while.

"Because you cared?" Barbara looked up with glassy, hurt eyes which went unseen, but the pain in her voice followed through. 

In any other circumstance Beetlejuice may have been taken aback by such a question. Maybe because most people asked things like that with a scoff. This happened to be different for once. "I have a heart, Babs," He muttered, "A cold, dead, unbeating one, but it's still there."

They had seen him save her from Juno with the Sandworm despite everything, but they never knew that Beetlejuice had also saved Lydia from herself. 

"I can't believe she was suffering that much and we didn't even notice!" Adam exclaimed.

"You know now, so that's gotta count for somethin'" Beej said. "And she's fine! Right? She's been doing a lot better. You guys said it yourselves plenty of times."

Barbara shook her head, wiped her eyes, and stood up with a determined expression, Adam following suit as she grabbed his arm on the way up. "No. It doesn't matter what we've seen or heard. We've got to talk to Lydia about this."

"You two have fun with that." Beetlejuice said, standing up and giving them a good-bye salute with two fingers before spinning on his heel to leave. Before he could snap his fingers to disappear more quickly, Barbara grabbed the back of his jacket collar, nobody mentioning the way he slightly tensed up.

"Oh no you don't. You're coming with us," She said firmly, letting go.

Beej groaned dramatically and turned around equally as so. "Ugh. Why do I have to go with you guys?"

"Because Lydia may talk about this sort of thing a lot easier if you're there," Adam said, crossing his arms as Barbara put her hands on her hips, both wearing matching poker faces.

"As domineering as you guys look like that, I think I'll pass."

"Beetlejuice." Adam warned. 

"Look! Don't you guys think that, just maybe, she doesn't want to talk about it? And if she did she would talk to someone?" The demon exclaimed, throwing his hands up.

"Who would talk to who about what?" A voice behind them asked, making all of them freeze. Beetlejuice cursed and the Maitlands turned around.

"Lydia!" The ghosts said, turning around.

"We," Barbara said, pointedly looking at BJ, "wanted to ask you something important."

"It's very serious though, so maybe we should go to the attic instead of standing on the roof?" Adam suggested.

Lydia blinked and looked between the Maitlands before her eyes landed on a very uncomfortable looking demon. "What did I just walk in on?"

Beetlejuice sighed and snapped his fingers, the four of them finding themselves in the attic. "These mind-numbing losers want to know about your suicide note."

"Beetlejuice!" Adam yelled, both Maitlands turning to glare at the irritated looking being. 

"I'm just moving it along," he defended, looking off to the side, but not leaving. 

Barbara and Adam turned their attention to Lydia, who looked like a deer in headlights. An upset deer in headlights. To think she just wanted to show Beej a picture of a raccoon she found. "Uh.."

"Lydia, we just want to know if you're okay." Barbara took a more decent approach, hoping to make up for the demon's previous insensitivity.

"Yeah," Adam agreed, nodding, "We're just worried. I saw you go up to the roof the other day and you usually only go up there when Beetlejuice is there."

"Guys I'm fine," Lydia said, her face alight with an uncomfortable grimace. "And I really don't want to talk about this."

"Aha! Fuck you guys, I told you she didn't want to talk about it." The smirk that found its way on his face dropped as soon as it got there when Barbara looked at him with fire in her eyes. Almost literally.

"We understand," Adam soothes. "But you have to understand why we're worried."

Lydia looked down at the ground, fiddling with part of her dress. She kind of appreciated Beej trying to get the topic off of her, but she knew better than to try and avoid the ghost couples questions. Taking a deep breath she looked back up at them, soaking in their genuine looks of concern. "Okay," She breathed out, "Okay. I'll talk about it. But don't push."

At the ghosts nods she started simple, "I'm okay. I don't want to kill myself." It didn't seem to calm Adam or Barbara down, but they stayed quiet and listened so she counted that as a plus. Even BJ was quiet, which was unusual. He wasn't looking at any of them still. She continued anyway, "I made the note in a bad mindset before I...before I accepted my mom's death. It was a very spur of the moment ordeal."

"You don't feel that way anymore?" Barbara asked unsurely.

Lydia shook her head, looking down again and furrowing her eyebrows. "I'm a lot better, but those sorts of thoughts don't just go away, ya know? Sometimes I think about what would happen if I had gone through with it, or if I tried again, but I don't actively think about it."

"I think we get it," Adam said. "Why didn't you tell anyone?"

The Maitlands thought they heard a snarky remark from Beetlejuice, but both of them chose to ignore it. If he wasn't going to say anything helpful, they didn't need to bother acknowledging it.

"I didn't want you guys to worry anymore."

"Oh, Lydia," Barb said softly. "You shouldn't worry about us worrying. We care about you, so we have to worry. You don't need to be embarrassed or feel like a nuisance. None of that."

"It's nothing to worry about now," the teen reevaluated, "I know you guys probably feel like shit for not noticing, but I wasn't trying to make it noticeable so that's on me."

"I just wish you would have tried to talk to at least us," Barbara said, walking up to the goth and taking her hands in her own. "I know you wouldn't have talked to your dad or step-mom because you felt like they wouldn't listen but we would. Adam and I would have listened,"

"I know," Lydia responded in a small voice, "I felt like you wouldn't listen either, though."

The Maitlands looked hurt, but they seemed to understand. Adam spoke up, "Well, just you know that we would have listened then and we'll absolutely listen now. If you ever feel like you need to talk about it, we're here for you, Lydia." He stepped closer now and put his hand lightly on the girl's shoulder. 

"Promise us you'll talk to us or just someone if things get bad again?" Barbara asked in an almost pleasing voice.

Lydia squeezed Barbs hands."I do talk to someone about this stuff. I talk to BJ." She moved her eyes over to said demon, who had finally brought his attention clearly to the other three. The teen noticed his green hair was slightly darker than before.

"Beetlejuice?" Adam confirmed, surprised. The ghosts followed Lydia's gaze to Beej.

Lydia nodded, moving from the couple over to Beetlejuice. "I know he doesn't look like someone you'd talk to about that kind of stuff," She chuckled just the slightest and spoke past BJ's mumbled 'rude', "but he understands me better when it comes down to it."

"It is a little hard to grasp," Barbara said, raising an eyebrow.

Beej rolled his eyes and waved his hand so the door leading into the attic opened. "'Kay so I'm gonna blast because Babs is being mean," He said, edging closer to the exit.

"How does he understand more?" Adam asked without any malice, only pure curiosity. "I get that he's dead, but...suicide?"

Lydia winced more at the question, but also at the fact a subtle amount of red had appeared in BJ's hair. Barbara seemed to notice as well. Although she looked less concerned. 

"And what makes you think I don't know about that?" Beetlejuice hissed.

"Beej," Lydia started, Adam replying before she could get anything else out.

"Unless it's a personal thing." Realization dawned on him and his eyes widened, "Can born-dead die?"

"Who said I was born-dead?"

"You did?" Barbara inputted gently.

"Agh!" Beetlejuice made a sound similar to a growl and paced away from the other three, but also the door. "That was bullshit."

"So you were alive at some point? You were human?" Barbara asked, reaching a hand out but keeping her space.

"How does that work out with… with Juno?" Adam stayed put as well.

A deep scarlet red flared up through the demons hair and he spun around quickly, though none of the other three missed the streaks of purple. "This isn't about me," He spat, "You wanted to talk to Lydia, so talk to Lydia!"

Lydia was the one to step forward. "Beej," She tried again, stopping in her tracks when he turned his glare to her, green and brown eyes harsh. The teen stepped closer again when he looked away, clearly trying not to be mad at her too. "Maybe you should just tell them. They're bound to find out eventually. And we're already doing this.." With little hesitance, she placed a hand on his arm, pleased when he relaxed just a bit.

Beetlejuice scoffed, "This is exactly why I didn't want to come down here. One of you talks about your feelings an' suddenly it's a kindergarten sharing circle about feelings. Fuck that."

Lydia gave him a stern look and he shook his head, "No. No! You didn't want to talk about it, and neither do I!"

"You committed suicide," Barbara said in complete bafflement, distressed. Her eyes went from the floorboard to Beetlejuice's.

"Oh, fuck me!" He exclaimed, breaking the eye contact by turning around, red fading out of his hair, although it was more concerning when it was replaced with more purple, "Yes. Okay? Yeah, I killed myself. I was alive and then I wasn't. Big deal! It was forever ago and it doesn't matter. I don't-"

"You do matter!" Lydia pushed in before the sentence could even be finished. They had this conversation plenty of times, and it looked like his stubbornness on the subject was still extremely hard to change.

The demon looked like he wanted to argue, but he only clenched his teeth and stayed quiet. 

"Beej, we're sorry," Adam said softly.

Beetlejuice's shoulders fell and he plopped down on the edge of the bed he had grown increasingly closer to. He buried his face in his hands and sighed, all red fading out of his hair. "Sharing circle, right?" He said resentfully.

"You know you don't have to talk about this now," Barbara pointed out, "Just eventually. You matter to us just like Lydia does." He may have done some shitty stuff in the past, but everyone in the house believed he was a good person deep down and he was getting better. Saving Lydia had given him some bonus points on their positive side, and after a few months of living with them he had shown incredible improvement. He wasn't any less of a bastard, but he wasn't a bad person.

"Might as well do it now and get it over with," Beetlejuice said heavily. "I'll make it short and sweet for you. Keep following because I'm not repeating shit." 

None of the other three said anything so he took that as incentive to keep going. At least they weren't badgering Lydia for information.  
"I was alive, yes? I had a human dad so I was born alive. He wasn't in my life, but I heard he was a great guy. 'Course the only decent thing in life I had the possibility of having wasn't there. Mother dearest has always been a demon. I've always been a half demon but I didn't get any of the razzle dazzle until I died. Didn't even know she was a demon until then. Clear that up? Great! So life was shit. If you haven't found out already, especially for me. Never knew my dad, as I said, so mom had to fake being a person to raise me. She wasn't great then, either. The whole 'this booze is worth more of my time than you' and 'I wish you would off yourself Lawrence' and my favorite 'no one would care if you killed yourself Lawrence'. Who would have guessed she was like that? Totally, absolutely shocking right? Long story short I got sick of the horrible life I had to live so I killed myself, much to moms joy. Tried to hang myself, but if you didn't know, a noose use to be made differently, so instead of a quick 'crack! you're dead!' I got more of a 'ack! you're choking!' Then I found out that I have to live my shitty life in an even shittier NetherWorld where I couldn't avoid mom and she had even more power over me than I thought. So there. You're not getting anymore from me." Beetlejuice didn't have to breathe, but he was still breathing heavily at the end.

The room was silent for a good long minute or two, and Beej was beginning to regret speaking. Maybe they lied about caring too? Of course they would care about Lydia. It was Lydia after all! But him? Christ, why would they care if he killed himself. Why would they care if he still wanted to? Lydia cared. He could convince himself that much after a long time. The Maitlands, however, were a different story.

Before he could snap himself out of the room, and maybe, just maybe far away from the house, he felt two pairs of arms put gently around him. Beetlejuice froze, his eyes shooting open to see Barbara and Adam hugging him. They pretty much never voluntarily touched him. He felt pain where his heart was, as if it was alive and beating. Yet he knew it wasn't. "What-?" He began, staring down at the floorboards.

"I'm so sorry," He heard Barbara and Adam say. The demon looked up to see Lydia. The girl offered him a small, sympathetic smile.

Lydia was glad the topic was off of her now, but that didn't change the fact she felt bad for her best friend. It was out now, however, and there wasn't any taking it back.

"You're not supposed to be sorry for other people's problems, idiots," Beej muttered, leaning forward more into the hug but not exactly returning it.

"We're sorry for the universe being so awful," Adam clarified.

"Wow, that sounds like the complete opposite of something Delia would say or exactly like something she would say."

The Maitlands chuckled. It was silent for the most part, but even Lydia picked it up. "Oh my god, did you two just laugh at one of Beej's horrible jokes?"

"You guys did!" The demon exclaimed, wrapping an arm around each of them and practically crushing them against him. Some green made its way back into his hair.

"Ack-"  
"Eck-"

"Beej, you can let go now," Lydia giggled. 

"Right, sorry," He let go and the two ghosts stepped back.

"No, no, we're sorry for wanting to talk about that with you and Lydia," Barbara said, giving a nervous laugh.

"We never would have guessed that you-"

"Committed not alive?" Beetlejuice supported once again.

"Yeah." Adam caved. "Gee-golly this has been a rollercoaster."

"Gee-golly?" Both BJ and Lyds said, the demon cackling and the teen snorting a laugh. 

"That is the nerdiest thing I've ever heard you say!" Beej exclaimed.

Adam's face turned red in embarrassment. 

"In all seriousness," Barb said, fighting back a smile (because that was seriously adorable and nerdy of Adam to say), "both of you should know you can talk to us. Both of you matter. Both of you. I cannot emphasize that enough."

"You said 'both of you' three times," Lydia said.

"That's pretty big emphasis," Beetlejuice agreed, nodding.

"It was rude of us to make you both talk about it," Adam said pointedly keeping the topic where it should be, "Even briefly."

"It's fine," Lydia replied, looking to Beej.

"Slightly less fine," He grinned. Lydia gave him 'the look' and he quickly restated it. "Feelings are hell, but I'm not upset," He said more clearly, "anymore."

"That's good," Barb said. "We'll be less pushy in the future toward either of you. It's good to know these things, though. We do want to help. Keep that in mind."

"Now!" Beetlejuice clapped his hands together, "Let's save any feelings talk for later down the road, because we all know it's coming, and, well, go back to the roof so I can show you this star with my name in Orion's Belt?"

"You actually remembered the whole constellation this time, I'm impressed," Lydia drawled.

"Fuck you, Lyds," The demon replied promptly.

The teen stuck out her tongue at him and he returned it in kind.

"Alright, you two," Barbara said.

Adam shook his head, smiling, "Show is this star."

Beetlejuice grinned and snapped his fingers and they all disappeared in a poof of smoke.


End file.
